Personal electronic devices have become ubiquitous in the last decade or so. As used herein, the term “personal electronic device” will refer to a plurality of network enabled devices, including cell or mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and smartphones, fixed and mobile personal computers, photography, audio and video devices, dashtop mobile devices (vehicle platforms), electronic organizers and other emerging network enabled technologies that have capability to place and receive telephone calls over their respective networks. The term “personal electronic device” as used herein also encompasses devices that are not equipped to place and receive telephone calls, but have the capability to store and retrieve network addresses, such as telephone numbers, that are used in placing telephone calls. Where these personal electronic devices were once expensive items, they have evolved into pervasive, personal communication tools affordable by most of the population. In November of 2007, worldwide cellular/mobile telephone subscriptions reached 3.3 billion, equivalent to half of the global population.
Personal electronic devices are used as gateway devices to access cellular/mobile telephone networks, the Internet, services such as the World Wide Web (WWW) and access other public or private communication networks. For the purposes of this application, cell phones will be used as an example of a personal electronic device.
There remains is a large embedded base of landline telephones connected through the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Landline phones are typically associated with a location, such as a kitchen, den or garage in the home, or a conference room, a lobby or a reception desk in a work environment. Landline phones are typically communal in nature; that is, multiple individuals may use them, with the degree of personalization being minimal.
In contrast, cell phones and other personal electronic devices are generally thought of as belonging to an individual, not typically shared with others. As cell phone functionality evolved beyond merely placing a call, phones have become an individual's portable repository of contact information such as phone numbers, physical addresses, email address, as well as data files such as documents, email messages, voice mail messages, photos, audio files and video files.
At times, a person who has a cell phone or other personal electronic device may prefer to experience a call on a traditional land-line phone. That may be because the cell phone has a poor cellular signal or no signal, because the person would prefer the higher quality of a landline connection, because the cell phone is an “enterprise” phone and the call is a personal call, or for any number of other reasons.
Additionally, finding phone numbers on a personal electronic device such as a cell phone or an organizer is often facilitated by the searching capabilities of the device. When a user searches a cell phone for the phone number of a friend or business associate, a search of contact information is made. The search may key on the friend's name, or may key on recently dialed or connected numbers. The actual phone number is typically entered only once when first storing it, and is then rarely viewed again. A consequence of a cell phone being personalized by and for an individual is that when a user chooses to use any phone other than his own, he loses access to his contact information and data files stored in his phone.
It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods for accessing personal contact information stored on personal electronic devices when placing a call on another device. To the inventors' knowledge, no such system or method exists.